Mascenic is flying high after Jared Stauffeneker’s big night and a wild final week that ended in a one-point loss at No. 4 Campbell. If they keep the momentum up, they have a shot at a run. Purchase photo reprints at Photo Finder »

It was a festive night at Mascenic Tuesday when the Vikings took on the Huskies of Monadnock. Junior Jared Stauffeneker came into the game needing 38 points to reach 1,000 for his career, and the crowd was alive with anticipation. There was just something in the air, that electric feeling that “it” was going to happen, like when the sky yellows and the wind calms just before a tornado sweeps across the plains. Red, white and blue balloons festooned the gymnasium, girding the bleachers with Viking pride.

If it was going to happen, this rare thing, a junior achieving what few can do in four full seasons, it needed to happen in front of the home crowd. And it was only fitting that it would happen against Monadnock, the team that Stauffeneker exploded against for 57 points in his sophomore season, the team that he’d likely scored the most points against in his career.

The wiry redhead was on fire from the get-go, scoring the team’s first six points and dominating the first half with a barrage of three-pointers, and-one layups and circus shots. Stauffeneker matched the Monadnock first-half output, scoring 27 as the Vikings took a 41-27 lead into the locker room.

Even knowing that everyone in the gym, with the exception of his Husky opponents, wanted him to score every time he touched the ball, Stauffeneker still played his usual game, dropping dimes when they were available and not forcing shots.

In the second half, the countdown began in earnest; a mini-scoreboard was brought to courtside and set to 11, and Stauffeneker’s youngest brother, Adam, flipped the numbers one by one as the buckets kept pouring in. Stauffeneker added nine in the third and started off the fourth at 998 career points.

Stauffeneker quickly made a steal and got fouled, and the crowd held its collective breath as he went to the line for two potentially historic points. Incredibly, he missed the first free throw, but buried the second. History would have to wait, but not for long. Moments later, Roman Ojala tipped a Husky pass into the hands of Matt Cyr; Cyr passed it back to Ojala, who found Stauffeneker under the hoop for a contested layup which he converted for career points 1,000 and 1,001.

The crowd exploded in a burst of red, white and blue streamers and confetti. The Vikings bench emptied and surrounded Stauffeneker in a joyous celebration, and the game was stopped as the newly-minted 1,000-point club member received the game ball and met his parents on the court.

After the fanfare subsided and the trappings of celebration were swept from the floor, the game resumed, and Stauffeneker started work on the next thousand points. He finished with 45 on the historic night, scoring six three-pointers and shooting 7-9 from the charity stripe. Mascenic’s Shane Rautiola scored 17 as well. The Huskies were led as always by Isaiah Prince, who scored 26 with six threes of his own.

Mascenic (8-8) played WLC Wednesday night. They round out their season at Campbell (14-2) on Friday night; after that, they await playoff seeding to determine their first-round opponent.

(Look for an article on Stauffeneker’s rise to greatness in an upcoming edition of the Ledger-Transcript.)